Awbury Arboretum

Growth Annual Report2013

GrowthDear Friends and Supporters:

2013 has been a year of extraodinary growth at Awbury Arboretum. With exceptional dedication and support from staff, Board, volunteers, and donors, we met and exceeded our short and long term goals in every sector.

Highlights include the construction of our new Education Center and Awbury Farm Kitchen, which opened its doors in September, and the launch of the accomanying Education Fund, which - to date- has raised over $70,000 as a base to draw upon for the development of new educational initiatives. We entered into a new era of communications with a new logo, dyamic “web 2.0” website, and now, for the first time in Awbury’s history, the public may access our archival materials online through the addition of new PastPerfect Online software, and “HistoryPin”.

I am happy we can share some of our accompishments with you in this report, and hope you will take time to review our work. Your ongoing engagement and support has been, and will continue to be vital to our operations. It is truly a rennaissance season at Awbury Arboretum.

Thank You!

Sincerely,

Chris van de VeldeGeneral Manager

Asian Pear grown in the new Permaculture Orchard

Students from this summer’s “Build-It” Camp

2:00pm: Members Meeting (Members only)3:00pm: The Food Trust’s Dwayne Wharton will speak on “Food Systems, Education, and Healthy Communities” (Open to Public)3:45pm: “Localvore” Reception & Tour of Awbury Agricultural Village (Open to Public)

>>> more info, registration, and resumes of Board nominees available at www.awbury.org/meeting2013

NOV.

3rd2pm - 4:30pm

Annual Meeting & CelebrationDear Member: Please Join us for our

One Awbury Road ● Philadelphia, PA 19138215-849-2855 ● www.awbury.org

Board of Directors

Denise CowieJoanne Dahme Kate Flynn - TreasurerBryan HanesNicole JudayClaudia Levy Ian PappajohnRobert Petito, Jr.Samuel RhoadsMark Sellers – ChairGina ThomasLouise S. Thompson – SecretaryKristin Winch Curtis Wright

Staff

Awbury Arboretum Association

Denis Lucey*Landscape ManagerBreck Miller*Assistant Landscape ManagerBeth MinerDir. of Communications & DevelopmentLiz Silbaugh*Membership & Administrative ManagerChris van de VeldeGeneral ManagerHeather ZimmermanDirector of Education

Awbury Arboretum Landscapes

Alan BorzilloDirector of OperationsChristine CarringtonExecutive DirectorCrewChristian CamachoAugustin HerreraTauheed HoltSergio MarinTafeeq Taylor

* Part-time

Financial Data Education

Our For-Profit Enterprise Awbury Arboretum Landscapes

Last year began with a plethora of possibilities, and although new programming ideas are constantly crossing my desk and my mind, what is foremost in my thoughts as the end of this year approaches is what has come to fruition.

Hearth and Horticulture — Awbury has hosted close to 600 adult participants in classes and lectures focusing on horticulture, agriculture, health, and arts and crafts. We continue to have a steady stream of presenters and participants wanting to come to Awbury. Many of these folks are local NW Philadelphians, but often as not we have visitors from across the city as well as from New Jersey.

Homeschooling — Last year when I contacted Talking Stick Learning Center to see if they would be interested in our field studies program they said, ‘no — instead we want to move our school to Awbury!’ And so they have. Talking Stick is a fabulous new tenant on both sides of the property, bringing energy, activity and over 40 new family members to the arboretum. Our own education programs are hosting Talking Stick students and other homeschooled children on a regular basis. How lovely to have the same children on campus every week — a new generation not just passing through for a field trip, but growing up here.

Summer Adventures — WOW! A summer full of fun flashed by with our first four weeks of day camp serving 50 children. We started off with the very popular “Camp Katniss”. Campers learned to identify wild edible plants (sauteed daylily blossoms were the favorite), build a fire, shoot bows and arrows, whittle sticks, mark a trail, and camouflage both themselves and their gear. Kids and parents both gave great reviews and vowed to come back next year.

Bug Camp came next; building mazes for beetles, eating chocolate-covered crickets and catching and identifying a host of scurrying, crawling, creeping, flying, little critters. The kids worked with our beekeeper, Anaiis Salles, to build their own bees and hives out of art materials.

Loving their new-found camp, many bug campers came back and joined us for Build It! camp several weeks later. Fairy houses, gnome homes, and giant teepees were scattered around the picnic table area— created by inspired young architects. When we got hungry we built solar ovens and feasted on sun-baked s’mores (after a healthy lunch of course!).

Field Studies — While all this activity was going on with the campers, Awbury

educators hosted over 1,000 kids for summer field studies. During the pond lesson, always the most popular, we spotted huge bullfrogs, turtles, and scores of colorful dragonflies. During other lessons students explored insects, went on nature scavenger hunts, and traversed the arboretum’s trails, meadows, and fields.

The success and excitement of the summer has spilled over into autumn; in just the last 2 months we have hosted over 500 children for field studies — almost 5 times more than visited last fall.

And the adventure hasn’t ended yet. This November we will be running our first one-day camp on Veteran’s Day as well as a special series of field trip offerings—both focused on Native American cooking and traditions in partnership with Zea May’s Kitchen. In January we will be piloting our Teen Leadership Corps program and expanding our class offerings at the new Awbury Farm Kitchen. Please visit our website to view our upcoming classes. We hope to see you here.

Many thanks to all the Awbury staff and board who support these programs and make Awbury accessible to thousands of children!

- Heather Zimmerman, Education Director

The Year in ReviewAssets

Cope Trust Balance $ 500,000

Cash Reserves $ 297,000

IncomeCope Income Trust $ 25,000

Rents $ 32,000

Program Fees $ 10,000

Grants $ 180,000

Gifts $ 20,000

Membership $ 20,000

AAL Earnings $ 40,000

Ed. Fund $ 25,000

Cash Reserves $ 33,000

TOTAL $ 385,000

ExpensesStaff Salaries $ 170,000

Consultants $ 92,000

Public Events $ 5,500

Landscape Maint. & Tools $ 51,500

Bldg. Maint./Repair $ 6,000

Custodial & Security $ 4,200

Equip. Lease/Purchase $ 2,500

Insurance $ 22,000

Utilities & Phone $ 15,500

Dues/Subscriptions $ 1,500

Office Supplies & Postage $ 7,000

Printing & Marketing $ 1,500

Taxes & Finance Fees $ 2,500

Web Site $ 1,000

Miscellaneous $ 2,500

TOTAL $ 385,000

• Increased residential customer base by over 60%

• Served a number of new institution clients including the Lutheran Theological Seminary, the Chestnut Hill Library and the new campus of the Green Tree School

• Added new services including hardscaping and the sale of landscaping supplies .

• Received $39,000 worth of very needed Arboretum tree maintenance from 22 arborist crews on Arbor Day this Spring.

• Launched AAL website and social media campaign

• Partnered with Jenks school in both the educational and landscaping arena.

• Created new paths and roadways in the Agricultural Village on the NW tract to accommodate Talking Stick homeschoolers and the new Educational Building

• Established new equipment maintenance yard and a new landscape materials supply area

• Improved systems and operations on Arboretum campus

Landscape - Highlights2013 was a busy year across Awbury Arboretum’s historic landscape. A generous donation from the Philadelphia Committee of the Garden Club of America paved the way for the restoration of an historic Heath Garden at the Francis Cope House. The garden was installed with the help of the Landscape Committee, Garden Club and other volunteers, as well as Awbury horticulture staff. The plants featured in the Heath Garden conform to the original 1916 Arboretum plan, forming a living archive to be enjoyed by all visitors to the Cope Family home. Fundraising is underway for the newly-launched Heritage Plants of Philadelphia project. The project will include the installation of a new display garden consisting of Heritage Plants of Philadelphia and a published catalogue researched, written, and edited by garden historians detailing the ornamental plants with most historic significance to our region. Work continues on the Tree Survey project initiated in 2012. Nearly 3,000 trees have now been geolocated. The Landscape Committee and student-interns are now working on developing GIS maps with the collected data and integrating horticultural information.

Landscape Committee Members and their families help install plants in the historic Heath Garden

Communications & OutreachBy the Numbers

Outreach & Partnerships, Hosted over 12 community outreach and partnership events, including: MLK Day of Service, Astronomy Night, Arbor Day, Arbor Day Boards Dinner, Eastern Tree-Climbing Competition, Easter Egg Hunt, DePaul 5K, Picnic in the Garden with East Mt. Airy Neighbors, and the Holiday Sing-Along.

, Currently maintain over 40 active partnerships with other local and city-wide non-profits, businesses, community associations, schools, and universities.

Communications

, Nearly doubled our number of E-News subscribers, from 745 in October of 2012 to 1,311 in October of 2013, More than doubled our Facebook followers, from 339 in October of 2012 to 570 in October of 2013, Gained 151 new Twitter followers - now at 841, From October of 2012-October of 2013, 39 seperate Awbury Email communications were sent, reaching inboxes a total of 32,244 times, Over 30,000 web site visits

Celebrate! 2013 was a banner year for Event Rentals at Awbury. The beautifully refur-bished parlors of the Cope House (and gra-cious porch and landscape) were the setting for 12 weddings, 8 meetings/retreats, and 14 parties/showers. This represents a more than 100% increase from 2012, and a 456% increase in revenue! Best of all, the Rental program gives Awbury a much-deserved boost in exposure as guests and hosts alike enjoy this unique and hospitable environment. We hope YOU will consider hosting your next celebration here - You’ll love it!

Event Rentals